Digital G7 achieves limited agreement on child protection and AI impact

(Patria) - Ministers gathered at a digital G7 meeting in Paris on Friday made progress on protecting children online, but only welcomed a report on the impact of artificial intelligence on energy in a joint declaration on the sector's challenges, AFP reported.

"Protecting minors online" is an "international priority," said French Minister for Digital Policy Anne Le Henanff at a press conference after the summit chaired by France, which concluded months of negotiations.

The seven member countries - Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States - agreed to recognise a "set of principles" for protecting children online, particularly through "age verification, protection of minors from the design phase of digital services" and "combating illegal content," Le Henanff said.

The declaration will allow them to be "much more demanding" of digital platforms and "will leave them no choice but to change their way of operating."

But while there was common ground on protecting children online, differences remained over the environmental impact of computing. A key sticking point with the United States, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on energy, was ultimately included in the final text, but only in terms of energy consumption.

The world's seven largest developed economies acknowledged that the "growing adoption of artificial intelligence will put increasing pressure on electricity grids."

The growing appetite of artificial intelligence companies for computing power is driving demand for energy to power data centres, as well as consuming rare raw materials for many of the high-end chips required.

"There can be no sustainable artificial intelligence without resilient infrastructure, reliable energy, and more efficient use of resources," said Le Henanff, acknowledging that it would be "very ambitious" to expect "very precise, strong actions from the United States."

"We had a clear objective, particularly to ensure recognition that this issue needs to be discussed, and we have achieved that with the United States," she said. "At the beginning of the discussions, this was not the case," she added, noting that Washington will chair the G7 group next year.

Paris failed to get the United States to sign up to a joint declaration at last year's AI summit with 160 other countries.

In addition to the main declaration, the discussions also resulted in four annexes, reflecting the four key themes agreed upon by the member countries.

Regarding AI security, the G7 countries acknowledged the "certain risks" posed by artificial intelligence and that it "can be misused by malicious actors," committing to "adopting an approach that is adapted to innovation in addressing these risks."

The declaration will serve as a preparatory document for the meeting of G7 heads of state to be held in Evian, eastern France, from June 15 to 17.